Translation as logocentric imperialism: Tackling the Naxi texts of southwest China. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Poupard, Duncan
• Is Part Of: Translation studies. Volume 13:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 22
• Page End: 42
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Minority translation -- Derrida -- logocentrism -- Naxi -- script in translation; Translating and interpreting -- Periodicals; 418.0205
• DOI: 10.1080/14781700.2019.1604257
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-1700

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Translating across scripts does more than raise the issue of what constitutes writing; it can expose bias and prejudice against writing systems. This article suggests that the first translation into a western language of a ritual text from the Naxi people of southwest China by a late-nineteenth century French explorer signposts the beginning of a translation tradition that is characterized by what Derrida called "logocentrism": a form of cultural imperialism not limited to the traditional oriental/occidental divide, that imposes a way of writing, and a way of thinking, on the culture being translated. To better understand and translate these minority texts, we must break through our logocentric bias and move toward non-linear ways of reading and writing.